Influence of High Temperatures on Milk Yields for Small-Holder Dairy Farmers in India

Abstract

The effect of temperature on agricultural yields is well documented in the literature,however effect of higher temperatures on milk yields is not so well known. In India,farming households with a few animals in their herd, produces most of the milk. Thispopulation is specially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This study uses anationally representative household survey of farmers to show that milk yields for thesehousehold dairy farmers is significantly reduced by exposure to temperatures above25◦c, with higher impact for temperatures above 35◦c. With rising global temperatures,exposure to such high temperatures would increase, exacerbating the losses. For a 1◦crise in global temperature the loss would exceed 10% whereas for a 3◦c rise the losswould cross 16% for the average farmer imposing a heavy burden in terms of lost incomeand nutrition.

Keywords: Milk yield, climate change, Temperature, India